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Monday, February 01, 2016

Please Let Cruz Lose

As we reach the first milestone of this awful and disgraceful election I see that someone who works for Ted Cruz, someone who presumably has an actual brain, is under the mistaken impression that Shmuley Boteach is some kind of noted expert or leader. This is posted on the Cruz website

Right. because supporting Israel in the US Senate requires bravery.

Meanwhile, in other Ted Cruz news, the least liked person in the history of the US senate called on Iowa voters to "awaken the body of Christ that we may pull back from the abyss.” Not being extremely well versed on evangelical Christian nightmares, I can't work out what exactly Cruz wants.

Is he just asking people to get psyched up about their religion, and to use their newly awakened enthusiasm to oppose at the ballot box all of the things the evangelical Christian God is said to dislike? Probably. But how does that help Ted? All of his opponents are squarely in line with Evangelical Christian God's tastes. They all hate homosexuals and abortion and brown people. The all support robber barons and anti-poor policies. They are all very much in line with the teachings of Republican Jesus.

So even if Ted does manage to wake up Jesus - which I take as an allegory for the Christian voter's conscious - how can he be certain that this will help him at the polls? Wouldn't a vote for Rubio or Trump also pull us back from the abyss?

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]